We’ve polled our readers before here when we were planning the deck (we went composite!), and here when we were considering taking our our 4th bathroom for a laundry room (we went for it!) and now that we’re in the initial planning stages of our bathroom renovation, we got another one for ya!
Our current master bathroom has a small shower nestled next to a built-in tub. The shower is not only cramped, but it has a lowered ceiling due to the insert. Before we can move forward with the rest of the plans (i.e. possibly moving the toilet closet to where the shower is), we gotta figure out what’s best for this area. We figured there are 3 options, outlined below, that we’d love you to weigh in on.
Would you rather:
1.  A separate tub and shower. Like our current set up. With a smaller shower, next to a tub. The down side to this one is we couldn’t move our toilet where our shower currently is. (And our toilet closet is kind of right in the middle of the room right now. However, this would be a very cost effective option that we could make look a million times better than it does now (that wouldn’t be hard). We’re not necessarily bath people, so I’m constantly side-eyeing all that wasted space a grand tub takes up, but there’s something very “master bathroom” about this set up. And an occasional soak could be nice.
 
2. A combined tub and shower: making the shower area larger, but the combination pretty standard size. Option 2 is appealing because even though Chris and I don’t take baths very often–will we want to occasionally? This option allows us to move our toilet closet next to the shower/tub combination while giving us a larger shower. It allows us to sometimes bathe the girls upstairs while still having a larger shower area. But, it does feel a little less “master” than the other two options.
3. A large, luxe shower with no tub. A large shower with multiple heads and maybe a built-in bench sounds dreamy. We also have plans to add a privacy window in the bathroom for some natural light and the shower is likely where it will go. I love the idea. We’d essentially build a large shower where the tub is currently, but is it practical to nix a tub completely? Will having only 1 tub in a large home be enough?
Inspiration Images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
If you have any inside thoughts or experience, we’d love to hear! We’re so anxious to start picking out finishes, but man, we’ve been going back and forth on this dilemma for months and I’m sure there are still pros and cons we’re forgetting about.
If I had to choose one over the other, I would choose a tub with a hand sprayer. After renting houses in several European countries, I decided I loved this. Tubs are also 100 necessary for children, and they are extremely therapeutic for many health conditions like stress, anxiety, arthritis, and psoriasis. For aging I would swap out to a walk in tub. I do love a quick shower to cool down and rinse off during hot weather, or before or after a sauna. I think if you have a shower, it should be separate. With that said, I have seen some very cool combos: giant shower area with tub inside it. Basically you shower with the tub on one side of you and a glass partition on the other side of you. Also a recessed tub with a shower floor. In this case you stand on a wood slatted floor while showering, which is removed to reveal a recessed tub!
Hi I like the shower tile just after the big white tub, looks like a beige subway tile, and the threshold and sill look like travertine can you provide more information
Thank you
Jerry
je suis interresse par une douche et une baignoire à cote.merci de m’envoyer des modeles
good gooooooood
What about a slightly larger shower plus a Japanese style soaking tub, which would be shorter than a traditional tub? That’s the way I would go, hands down.